Photovoltaics – Operating

Principles
Photovoltaics, also known as Solar
Cells are semiconductors, typically
Silicon
A solar cell uses junctions of an n-type
semiconductor (freely moving
electrons) with a p-type semiconductor
(freely moving holes) which creates a
type of diode that is in electric
equilibrium in the dark
Photons (electromagnetic
radiation) from the sun free
electrons and holes, causing a
DC current to flow from the n- to
the p-type material Several cells are placed in series in
modules to achieve higher voltages
and power
 Types of Solar cell
Based on the types of crystal used, soar cells can be classified as,
1. Monocrystalline silicon cells
2. Polycrystalline silicon cells
3. Amorphous silicon cells

1. The Monocrystalline silicon cell is produced from pure

silicon (single crystal). Since the Monocrystalline silicon is
pure and defect free, the efficiency of cell will be higher.

2. In polycrystalline solar cell, liquid silicon is used as raw

material and polycrystalline silicon was obtained followed by
solidification process. The materials contain various crystalline
sizes. Hence, the efficiency of this type of cell is less than
Monocrystalline cell.

2
 Types of Solar cell
3. Amorphous silicon was obtained by depositing silicon film
on the substrate like glass plate.

• The layer thickness amounts to less than 1µm – the

thickness of a human hair for comparison is 50-100 µm.

• The efficiency of amorphous cells is much lower than that

of the other two cell types.

• As a result, they are used mainly in low power equipment,

such as watches and pocket calculators, or as facade
elements. 3
 SILICON
• Silicon is the most popular PV material
• Most cells are made from left over computer chip
manufacturing
• Silicon must be refined to almost 100% purity
• The uniform molecular structure of silicon makes
it efficient for electron transport
• Silicon wafers are cut from ingots
 PARTS OF A SOLAR CELL
• Electrically conductive grid on top surface to carry electrons
• 1-2 layers of anti-reflective coating to increase absorption
• The collector: a thin layer of silicon
• An electrode in contact with base layer to complete the circuit.
 Advantages of Silicon Solar
Cells
• Why Silicon?
• Non-toxic
• Abundant
• Relatively cheap
• Mature infrastructure
from computer industry c-Si Cell p-Si Cell a-Si Cell

Solar Cell Max Lab Typical Cell

Si Use Cost
Technology Efficiency Thickness
Mono-crystalline
27.6% ~200µm High $$$
Silicon (c-Si)
Poly-crystalline
20.4% ~200µm Moderate $$
Silicon (p-Si)

Amorphous Silicon
12.5% <1µm Low $
Thin Film (a-Si)
 Monocrystalline Silicon Solar Cells
• Advantages of c-Si
• Up to 27.6% lab efficiencies
• Little degradation over time

Disadvantages of c-Si
• High temperature and energy
intensive manufacturing process
• Use a relatively large amount of Si
• Expensive
• Fragile
• Low band-gap (1.17 eV ≈ 1060nm)
c-Si Ingot made using
Czochralski process:

c-Si Cell p-Si Cell

 Amorphous Silicon
The lack of crystalline regularity in amorphous silicon results in “dangling
bonds”. Here, electrons recombine with holes. When amorphous silicon is
doped with small amounts of hydrogen (“hydrogenation”), the hydrogen
atoms combine chemically with the dangling bonds, permitting electrons to
move through the amorphous silicon
Cells are designed to have ultra-thin (0.008-
micron) p-type top layer, a thicker (0.5 to 1-
micron) intrinsic (middle) layer, a very thin
(0.02-micron) n-type bottom layer. The top
layer is so thin and transparent that most light
passes right through. The p- and n- layers
create an electric field across the entire
intrinsic region
 Amorphous Silicon

•Amorphous materials have no long-range

crystalline order

•In 1974, researchers found that

photovoltaic devices could be made using
amorphous silicon by properly controlling
deposition and composition

•Amorphous silicon absorbs solar radiation

40 times more efficiently than single-
crystal silicon – a film 1-micron thick can
absorb 90% of the usable solar energy

•Amorphous silicon can be processed at

relatively low temperatures on low-cost
substrates making it very economical
 Amorphous Silicon Cells
Advantages of a-Si TF
• Saves raw material
• Can be deposited on
flexible substrates
• Higher photon absorbance
than c-Si
• More desirable band-gap a-Si Cell
• Potential roll to roll
manufacturing would make a-Si Atomic Model
it very cheap to produce
Disadvantages of a-Si TF
• Less efficient than c-Si
• Currently lower % efficiency per
$ cost than c-Si
• Degrades over time
c-Si Structure a-Si Structure
 CELLS -> MODULES
• Wafers 5 inches square and .012 inches thick are sliced
from the ingot.
• They are then processed into cells and soldered together
to achieve the desired voltage.
• Cells arrayed in series are called modules.
 Improving Solar Cell Efficiency

•The energy of a photon is E = hn

•Electrons are elevated to the conduction

band if the frequency of the light equals or
exceeds the band gap energy

This means that light at a lower frequencies

do no work

•To get around this, cells with different band

gap energies are assembled into
multijunction cells